EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
Lecture 1...........................................................................................................................................4
Chapter 1..........................................................................................................................................4
Landmarks in the history of evolutionary thinking......................................................................4
Three essential ingredients of natural selection...........................................................................4
Theory of sexual selection...........................................................................................................4
Define particulate inheritance......................................................................................................5
Three common misunderstandings about evolutionary psychology.............................................5
Identify when neanderthals went extinct......................................................................................5
Explain why radical behaviorism went into scientific decline.....................................................6
Chapter 2..........................................................................................................................................7
Describe the three key products of evolution...............................................................................7
Define the concept of ‘evolved psychological mechanism’.........................................................8
List nine methods for testing evolutionary hypotheses................................................................8
Identify seven data sources for testing evolutionary hypotheses..................................................9
List six procedures for identifying adaptive problems.................................................................9
Lecture 2.........................................................................................................................................10
Chapter 3........................................................................................................................................10
Describe the “disease-avoidance hypothesis” of disgust............................................................10
Compare and contrast the hunting hypothesis with the gathering hypothesis............................10
Explain the savanna hypothesis for finding a place to live........................................................10
List the most common human fears...........................................................................................11
Describe the “descent illusion.”.................................................................................................11
Define the leading theory of senescence....................................................................................12
Analyze why humans would be a major “hostile force of nature” to other humans...................12
Lecture 3.........................................................................................................................................12
Chapter 4........................................................................................................................................12
Explain the Two Major Components of Sexual Selection Theory.............................................12
Explain Parental Investment Theory and Analyze How Parental Investment Influences the
Components of Sexual Selection...............................................................................................13
Analyze the Multiple Adaptive Problems Potentially Solved by Women’s Preferences for Men
with Resources...........................................................................................................................13
Summarize the Evidence for the Effects of Women’s Personal Resources on Their Mate
Preferences................................................................................................................................14
Evaluate Why Women Have an Evolved Mate Preference for Cues to Athletic Ability............14
Love and Commitment..............................................................................................................15
Women’s Mate Preferences and Paternal Investment................................................................15
Context Effects on Women’s Mating Strategies........................................................................15
Explain “Mate Copying” and Provide One Example from Real Life.........................................15
Identify Four Findings that Illustrate How Women’s Mate Preferences Influence Actual Mating
Behavior....................................................................................................................................15
Chapter 5........................................................................................................................................16
List nine benefits men gain from commitment and marriage.....................................................16
Analyze why ancestral men faced the adaptive problem of identifying a woman’s fertility......16
Explain the evolutionary theory of men’s evolved standards of female beauty.........................16
Describe why men face the problem of “paternity uncertainty.”...............................................17
1
, Compare and contrast the two theories for the links between men’s testosterone and their
mating strategies........................................................................................................................18
Identify four sources of evidence that men’s evolved mate preferences influence actual mating
behavior.....................................................................................................................................20
Influence of Context on Men's Mating Behavior.......................................................................20
Lecture 4.........................................................................................................................................21
Chapter 6........................................................................................................................................21
List the adaptive benefits to men of short-term mating from an evolutionary perspective.........21
List the costs of short-term mating for men...............................................................................22
Identify the adaptive problems men must solve when pursuing short-term mating...................22
Name three empirical findings that support the hypothesis that men have an evolved short-term
mating strategy..........................................................................................................................23
Specify the five major hypotheses about the adaptive benefits to women of short-term mating.
...................................................................................................................................................23
Analyze the evidence for contexts that influence whether women pursue short-term mating....24
Lecture 5.........................................................................................................................................25
Chapter 7........................................................................................................................................25
Describe the two leading hypotheses for why mothers generally provide more parental care
than fathers................................................................................................................................25
Explain the three major factors that are theoretically expected to influence parental care.........26
Describe the theory of parent–offspring conflict and provide one example from your own
observations...............................................................................................................................26
Analyze why parents sometimes try to influence the mating and sexuality of their children.....26
Chapter 8........................................................................................................................................27
Explain the theory of inclusive fitness.......................................................................................27
Provide three empirical examples that illustrate the importance of genetic relatedness for
helping.......................................................................................................................................28
Describe two studies that suggest that genetic relatives make a difference between life and
death..........................................................................................................................................28
Analyze why maternal grandmothers would invest more than paternal grandfathers in their
grandkids...................................................................................................................................28
Explain, from an evolutionary perspective, why families might form.......................................29
Summarize the three major sources of conflict within families.................................................30
Lecture 6.........................................................................................................................................31
Chapter 9........................................................................................................................................31
Explain the problem of altruism................................................................................................31
Summarize the theory of reciprocal altruism.............................................................................31
Analyze why “tit for tat” is such a successful strategy...............................................................32
Provide two examples of reciprocal altruism in non-human animal species..............................33
Describe why humans must have cheater-detection adaptations in order for reciprocal altruism
to evolve....................................................................................................................................33
Compare and contrast the costs and benefits of friendship........................................................34
List and describe the two key problems that must be solved when establishing coalitions........34
Lecture 7.........................................................................................................................................34
Chapter 10......................................................................................................................................34
List six adaptive problems that could be solved by an aggressive strategy................................34
Explain the evolutionary theory for why men are more violently aggressive than women........35
Summarize the evidence for sex differences in same-sex aggression........................................36
2
, Analyze why women sometimes aggress against other women.................................................37
Describe the “recalibration theory of anger” and provide one example from your own
observations...............................................................................................................................38
Describe why men would go to war, despite the heavy risks of battle.......................................38
Compare and contrast the “adaptation” versus “by-product” theories of why people kill other
people........................................................................................................................................39
Lecture 8.........................................................................................................................................39
Chapter 11......................................................................................................................................39
Define “strategic interference theory.”......................................................................................39
Analyze why men and women sometimes get into conflict about the occurrence and timing of
sex.............................................................................................................................................40
Describe key predictors of sexual harassment...........................................................................41
Compare and contrast the adaptation versus by-product theories of rape..................................42
Describe women’s potential anti-rape defenses.........................................................................43
Summarize three findings that support the hypothesis that women and men differ in the triggers
of sexual jealousy......................................................................................................................45
Describe the contexts influencing the intensity of mate-retention tactics..................................45
Analyze the possible evolutionary causes of resource inequality between the sexes.................46
Lecture 9.........................................................................................................................................47
Chapter 12......................................................................................................................................47
Explain how dominance hierarchies emerge from individual interactions.................................47
Describe one example of dominance hierarchies in a non-human animal species.....................48
Analyze why men might have evolved a stronger motivation for status striving compared to
women.......................................................................................................................................48
List five correlates of dominance...............................................................................................49
Analyze why humans have evolved submissive strategies.........................................................49
Lecture 10.......................................................................................................................................50
Chapter 13......................................................................................................................................50
Describe the evidence for human adaptive memory..................................................................50
List four evolutionary theories that provide insights into human social psychology..................50
Describe the “theory of mind” and state when it emerges during human development.............51
Identify and illustrate three major ways evolutionary psychology can explain individual
differences.................................................................................................................................51
Compare and contrast three evolutionary explanations for depression......................................51
Explain why some problems are erroneously thought to be “dysfunctions” when they may not
be...............................................................................................................................................52
Compare and contrast the concepts of evoked culture and transmitted culture..........................52
Identify three adaptations of which religious phenomena might be byproducts.........................52
Explain the logic of culture–gene co-evolution.........................................................................53
Evaluate the idea that evolutionary psychology can serve as a “metatheory” that united all of
physiology.................................................................................................................................53
3
, Lecture 1
Chapter 1
Landmarks in the history of evolutionary thinking
Evolution refers to change over time. Jean Baptiste Lamarck was one of the first scientists to use the
word biology, which recognized the study of life as a distinct science. He believed in two major
causes of species change:
1. a natural tendency for each species to progress toward a higher form
2. the inheritance of acquired characteristics
Another theory of change in life forms was developed by Cuvier. He proposed a theory called
catastrophism, according to which species are extinguished periodically by sudden catastrophes, such
as meteorites, and then replaced by different species.
Biologists before Darwin also noticed the bewildering variety of
species, some with astonishing structural similarities. Further
evidence suggesting over change of time also came from the fossil
record and comparing the embryological development of different
species. Another key observation had been made before Darwin:
Many species possess characteristics that seem to have a purpose.
DNA-studies reveal that humans share a common ancestor with the
Bacteria, some 4 billion years ago.
The resistance against evolutionary theory is still ongoing.
Three essential ingredients of natural selection
-variation: variation provides the raw materials for evolution
-inheritance: only some of the variations are inherited (passed down reliably from parents to their
offspring, who then pass them on to their offspring down through generations). Only the variations
that are inherited play a role in the evolutionary process.
-differential reproductive success: To pass its inherited qualities to future generations, it must
reproduce. It is defined by reproductive success relative to others. The characteristics of organisms
that reproduce more than others, therefore, get passed down to future generations at a relatively
greater frequency.
Theory of sexual selection
This theory focused on adaptations that arose as a consequence of successful mating. Darwin
proposed two primary means by which sexual selection could operate:
1. intrasexual competition: competition between members of one sex, the outcomes of which
contributed to mating access to the other sex. The victor gains sexual access to females either
directly or through controlling territory or resources desired by the female. The loser typically
fails to mate.
4
Lecture 1...........................................................................................................................................4
Chapter 1..........................................................................................................................................4
Landmarks in the history of evolutionary thinking......................................................................4
Three essential ingredients of natural selection...........................................................................4
Theory of sexual selection...........................................................................................................4
Define particulate inheritance......................................................................................................5
Three common misunderstandings about evolutionary psychology.............................................5
Identify when neanderthals went extinct......................................................................................5
Explain why radical behaviorism went into scientific decline.....................................................6
Chapter 2..........................................................................................................................................7
Describe the three key products of evolution...............................................................................7
Define the concept of ‘evolved psychological mechanism’.........................................................8
List nine methods for testing evolutionary hypotheses................................................................8
Identify seven data sources for testing evolutionary hypotheses..................................................9
List six procedures for identifying adaptive problems.................................................................9
Lecture 2.........................................................................................................................................10
Chapter 3........................................................................................................................................10
Describe the “disease-avoidance hypothesis” of disgust............................................................10
Compare and contrast the hunting hypothesis with the gathering hypothesis............................10
Explain the savanna hypothesis for finding a place to live........................................................10
List the most common human fears...........................................................................................11
Describe the “descent illusion.”.................................................................................................11
Define the leading theory of senescence....................................................................................12
Analyze why humans would be a major “hostile force of nature” to other humans...................12
Lecture 3.........................................................................................................................................12
Chapter 4........................................................................................................................................12
Explain the Two Major Components of Sexual Selection Theory.............................................12
Explain Parental Investment Theory and Analyze How Parental Investment Influences the
Components of Sexual Selection...............................................................................................13
Analyze the Multiple Adaptive Problems Potentially Solved by Women’s Preferences for Men
with Resources...........................................................................................................................13
Summarize the Evidence for the Effects of Women’s Personal Resources on Their Mate
Preferences................................................................................................................................14
Evaluate Why Women Have an Evolved Mate Preference for Cues to Athletic Ability............14
Love and Commitment..............................................................................................................15
Women’s Mate Preferences and Paternal Investment................................................................15
Context Effects on Women’s Mating Strategies........................................................................15
Explain “Mate Copying” and Provide One Example from Real Life.........................................15
Identify Four Findings that Illustrate How Women’s Mate Preferences Influence Actual Mating
Behavior....................................................................................................................................15
Chapter 5........................................................................................................................................16
List nine benefits men gain from commitment and marriage.....................................................16
Analyze why ancestral men faced the adaptive problem of identifying a woman’s fertility......16
Explain the evolutionary theory of men’s evolved standards of female beauty.........................16
Describe why men face the problem of “paternity uncertainty.”...............................................17
1
, Compare and contrast the two theories for the links between men’s testosterone and their
mating strategies........................................................................................................................18
Identify four sources of evidence that men’s evolved mate preferences influence actual mating
behavior.....................................................................................................................................20
Influence of Context on Men's Mating Behavior.......................................................................20
Lecture 4.........................................................................................................................................21
Chapter 6........................................................................................................................................21
List the adaptive benefits to men of short-term mating from an evolutionary perspective.........21
List the costs of short-term mating for men...............................................................................22
Identify the adaptive problems men must solve when pursuing short-term mating...................22
Name three empirical findings that support the hypothesis that men have an evolved short-term
mating strategy..........................................................................................................................23
Specify the five major hypotheses about the adaptive benefits to women of short-term mating.
...................................................................................................................................................23
Analyze the evidence for contexts that influence whether women pursue short-term mating....24
Lecture 5.........................................................................................................................................25
Chapter 7........................................................................................................................................25
Describe the two leading hypotheses for why mothers generally provide more parental care
than fathers................................................................................................................................25
Explain the three major factors that are theoretically expected to influence parental care.........26
Describe the theory of parent–offspring conflict and provide one example from your own
observations...............................................................................................................................26
Analyze why parents sometimes try to influence the mating and sexuality of their children.....26
Chapter 8........................................................................................................................................27
Explain the theory of inclusive fitness.......................................................................................27
Provide three empirical examples that illustrate the importance of genetic relatedness for
helping.......................................................................................................................................28
Describe two studies that suggest that genetic relatives make a difference between life and
death..........................................................................................................................................28
Analyze why maternal grandmothers would invest more than paternal grandfathers in their
grandkids...................................................................................................................................28
Explain, from an evolutionary perspective, why families might form.......................................29
Summarize the three major sources of conflict within families.................................................30
Lecture 6.........................................................................................................................................31
Chapter 9........................................................................................................................................31
Explain the problem of altruism................................................................................................31
Summarize the theory of reciprocal altruism.............................................................................31
Analyze why “tit for tat” is such a successful strategy...............................................................32
Provide two examples of reciprocal altruism in non-human animal species..............................33
Describe why humans must have cheater-detection adaptations in order for reciprocal altruism
to evolve....................................................................................................................................33
Compare and contrast the costs and benefits of friendship........................................................34
List and describe the two key problems that must be solved when establishing coalitions........34
Lecture 7.........................................................................................................................................34
Chapter 10......................................................................................................................................34
List six adaptive problems that could be solved by an aggressive strategy................................34
Explain the evolutionary theory for why men are more violently aggressive than women........35
Summarize the evidence for sex differences in same-sex aggression........................................36
2
, Analyze why women sometimes aggress against other women.................................................37
Describe the “recalibration theory of anger” and provide one example from your own
observations...............................................................................................................................38
Describe why men would go to war, despite the heavy risks of battle.......................................38
Compare and contrast the “adaptation” versus “by-product” theories of why people kill other
people........................................................................................................................................39
Lecture 8.........................................................................................................................................39
Chapter 11......................................................................................................................................39
Define “strategic interference theory.”......................................................................................39
Analyze why men and women sometimes get into conflict about the occurrence and timing of
sex.............................................................................................................................................40
Describe key predictors of sexual harassment...........................................................................41
Compare and contrast the adaptation versus by-product theories of rape..................................42
Describe women’s potential anti-rape defenses.........................................................................43
Summarize three findings that support the hypothesis that women and men differ in the triggers
of sexual jealousy......................................................................................................................45
Describe the contexts influencing the intensity of mate-retention tactics..................................45
Analyze the possible evolutionary causes of resource inequality between the sexes.................46
Lecture 9.........................................................................................................................................47
Chapter 12......................................................................................................................................47
Explain how dominance hierarchies emerge from individual interactions.................................47
Describe one example of dominance hierarchies in a non-human animal species.....................48
Analyze why men might have evolved a stronger motivation for status striving compared to
women.......................................................................................................................................48
List five correlates of dominance...............................................................................................49
Analyze why humans have evolved submissive strategies.........................................................49
Lecture 10.......................................................................................................................................50
Chapter 13......................................................................................................................................50
Describe the evidence for human adaptive memory..................................................................50
List four evolutionary theories that provide insights into human social psychology..................50
Describe the “theory of mind” and state when it emerges during human development.............51
Identify and illustrate three major ways evolutionary psychology can explain individual
differences.................................................................................................................................51
Compare and contrast three evolutionary explanations for depression......................................51
Explain why some problems are erroneously thought to be “dysfunctions” when they may not
be...............................................................................................................................................52
Compare and contrast the concepts of evoked culture and transmitted culture..........................52
Identify three adaptations of which religious phenomena might be byproducts.........................52
Explain the logic of culture–gene co-evolution.........................................................................53
Evaluate the idea that evolutionary psychology can serve as a “metatheory” that united all of
physiology.................................................................................................................................53
3
, Lecture 1
Chapter 1
Landmarks in the history of evolutionary thinking
Evolution refers to change over time. Jean Baptiste Lamarck was one of the first scientists to use the
word biology, which recognized the study of life as a distinct science. He believed in two major
causes of species change:
1. a natural tendency for each species to progress toward a higher form
2. the inheritance of acquired characteristics
Another theory of change in life forms was developed by Cuvier. He proposed a theory called
catastrophism, according to which species are extinguished periodically by sudden catastrophes, such
as meteorites, and then replaced by different species.
Biologists before Darwin also noticed the bewildering variety of
species, some with astonishing structural similarities. Further
evidence suggesting over change of time also came from the fossil
record and comparing the embryological development of different
species. Another key observation had been made before Darwin:
Many species possess characteristics that seem to have a purpose.
DNA-studies reveal that humans share a common ancestor with the
Bacteria, some 4 billion years ago.
The resistance against evolutionary theory is still ongoing.
Three essential ingredients of natural selection
-variation: variation provides the raw materials for evolution
-inheritance: only some of the variations are inherited (passed down reliably from parents to their
offspring, who then pass them on to their offspring down through generations). Only the variations
that are inherited play a role in the evolutionary process.
-differential reproductive success: To pass its inherited qualities to future generations, it must
reproduce. It is defined by reproductive success relative to others. The characteristics of organisms
that reproduce more than others, therefore, get passed down to future generations at a relatively
greater frequency.
Theory of sexual selection
This theory focused on adaptations that arose as a consequence of successful mating. Darwin
proposed two primary means by which sexual selection could operate:
1. intrasexual competition: competition between members of one sex, the outcomes of which
contributed to mating access to the other sex. The victor gains sexual access to females either
directly or through controlling territory or resources desired by the female. The loser typically
fails to mate.
4
